Got Your Back
by TimmyD24
Summary: Percy and Piper need a little advice when they're feeling a little bit down. Set in Mark of Athena.


**I own none of the characters. They all belong to Rick Riordan.**

Percy hated guard duty.

Especially when his shift took place after midnight. He knew it was necessary for him to be keeping watch, especially since they were now sailing, but he preferred to be asleep at night.

The only good thing that came from it was that it gave Percy time to himself and his thoughts.

A day had passed since the crew's encounter with Chrysaor, and Percy was still miffed at how easily the pirate had defeated him. Not only had he been disarmed once, but he'd done it _twice_ , without even the slightest of efforts.

It was safe to say Percy's ego had taken a blow.

Annabeth tried telling him that it was no big deal, and that in the end, everything worked itself out. But Percy just couldn't accept that. He always prided himself on his swordsmanship. It was one of the only things that came natural to him. But to know somebody was _that_ much better than him bothered Percy to no end. Even Luke – who always seemed to be a step ahead of Percy – wasn't that good.

It upset Percy, that even at his best, he was no match. He couldn't protect his friends and be the leader they needed. The only reason they were even alive was because Chrysaor's dolphin crew was unbelievably gullible.

Percy let out a frustrated groan.

"Slow night?"

Percy whirled around, drawing his sword, and pointing it at the throat of the intruder. It took him a second for him to realize who he was pointing his sword at.

"Piper?"

Her hands were straight up, and her eyes were cross-eyed looking at the tip of his sword. She slowly moved the sword away with her hand.

"I'd appreciate it if you would put that away."

Percy scowled, and capped his sword. "I'd appreciate it if _you_ didn't sneak up on me like that."

Piper shrugged. "Not my fault you scare easily."

Percy rolled his eyes, choosing not to respond, and instead taking in her appearance. She was wearing a oversized dark blue jacket and some slightly ripped denim shorts with a pair of white shoes. Her hair was matted on one side, and she had a couple of bags under her kaleidoscope eyes, but she still somehow managed to radiate her normal beauty.

"Like what you see, Jackson?" Piper smirked as Percy turned away.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Please, I can practically hear you blushing," Piper snorted.

"Whatever," Percy said. "What are you doing up? It's my shift."

He can see Piper's eyes darken slightly before she responds. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come up here and keep you company."

Piper walks over to the rail and leans over to look down at her reflection. Percy instantly knows something is wrong, and goes to join her by the rail.

"Anything I can help you with?" He asks. Piper looks over at him with a small smile.

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing."

Percy looks at her confused. "What makes you think I require your help?"

"If the way you groaned a couple of minutes ago is anything to go by…" Piper trailed off, shrugging her shoulders. Percy just sighed again.

"Yeah, maybe I could use some advice."

"Well, maybe we could help each other out," Piper turned to look at him. "We both need some advice, and it seems that monsters are staying away for the night."

"Sure, I'll go first I guess."

Before he could begin, Piper raised her hand up to stop him.

"Let me guess, you're upset about being disarmed _twice_ by Chrysaor."

Percy's mouth hung open in confusion. "How?"

"You boys are so predictable," Piper said, rolling her eyes. Percy glared at her before turning his glare out to the sea.

"It's just that I've spent my entire life as a demigod being naturally good at sword fighting. There's only been a few people that I struggled with, and even fewer I couldn't beat. But even then I've never been so… _humiliated_ by an opponent," He took a deep breath before continuing. "I know that I should be happy that we got out of that situation, but I can't be knowing that I wasn't able to protect you guys. It's just so… _frustrating_."

He banged his fist against the railing, making a small wave jump up. Piper remained unfazed, staring intently at Percy.

"Sounds like you have a bruised ego," Piper said after a minute.

Percy didn't respond.

"Percy, sometimes you have accept the fact that you're not good enough. There's always someone out there who's just flat out _better_ , and you can't do a damn thing about it."

"Then how am I supposed to protect you guys? To protect Annabeth?"

"Percy, you're not invincible anymore," Piper put a hand on his shoulder. "But with us you don't have to be."

Percy kept staring out at the ocean, trying to accept the fact that maybe he wasn't good enough, and that he couldn't always protect those he cared about. They stayed silent for a minutes, watching the stars in the sky.

"So, what's your problem?"

His voice was quiet, but at it still managed to startle Piper.

"This war is my problem," Piper exclaims. "I just can't help but feel as if something is going to go wrong. I feel this sense of dread the closer we get to Rome."

Percy chuckled softly. "You seem to share my pessimism."

Piper's frown deepened. "I just can't understand why I'd be chosen as one of the seven. Just a silly daughter of Aphrodite among the likes of you and Jason."

Piper was leaning over the railing, looking down at her distortion reflection in the ocean.

"Trust me, we all have our doubts about this quest," Percy sighed. "I understand your concerns about Rome too. But you aren't allowed to start feeling sorry for yourself after what you just said to me."

"That's different," Piper said looking up at him. "You're Percy freaking Jackson. You're practically a walking Greek legend."

"So what? You're Piper _freaking_ McLean. You've already saved my life twice. You have one of the most powerful and useful abilities _ever_."

Piper turned to face him, expression hard to read. Percy walked over and put both of his hands on her shoulders.

"Piper you're on this quest for a reason," Percy looked directly into her eyes "I trust you with my life, Piper. You've got to start trusting yourself."

Piper slowly allowed herself to smile as she wrapped her arms around his torso, hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed just as tightly.

"Thank you," Piper mumbled into his shirt.

"Back at you," Percy replied.

They separated when someone from behind cleared their throat. Annabeth stood their with an eyebrow raised, arms crossed over her chest. Leo wasn't far behind her, grinning mischievously at the pair.

"Am I interrupting something?' She asked.

Percy and Piper both shook their heads vigorously, trying to explain themselves. Leo laughed at the two demigods who were obviously afraid of Annabeth.

"Relax," Annabeth told them with a smile. "I saw enough with Valdez to know you two weren't doing anything… naughty."

Both demigods relaxed before realizations of her words dawned on them.

"Wait, you guys were spying on us?" Piper asked. Leo stopped laughing, while Annabeth shrugged.

"Then why didn't you interrupt us earlier?" Percy questioned.

"Eh, We figured you guys could use some quality _bonding time_." Leo answered.

Percy and Piper glanced at each other before shrugging, figuring that no real harm was done.

"So, you guys care to join us for some quality _bonding time_ then?"

Leo was about to answer but Annabeth beat him to it. "Aren't you supposed to be on guard duty, Percy?"

"It's been a slow night," Percy said waving her off. "Plus, I doubt they want to challenge the mighty son of Poseidon."

Piper was going to retort, but a swarm of Stymphalian birds swooped down above the Argo ll, ready to attack. They all glared at Percy, who just gave them his signature lopsided smile.

"Oh when am I ever right?" He said uncapping Riptide. The others grabbed their weapons as well preparing to fight.

Percy and Piper locked eyes for a second, nodding at each other before charging into battle.

It was going to be a long night.


End file.
